The Long Haul
by FunbagsMcBooty
Summary: Things have changed between all of them since the accident, so what better way to get their friendships back on track than a three thousand mile road trip to California? H/Cu/W; love triangle.
1. Chapter 1

It was hot and muggy, and her thighs were sticking to the tan vinyl seats beneath her bare legs. She still wasn't sure how House and Wilson had talked her into tagging along on this cross country road trip, but she was definitely starting regret it.

She had thought it was a crazy idea when they had come to her with the proposition of driving down to San Diego for a week just to get away from everything, and build their friendships again, but they had sweet talked her into it, and now she was stuck in the backseat of a red 1967 Mustang convertible with no air conditioner in the middle of summer.

The reason for the trip was understandable. Since Amber had died Wilson had been depressed, House had been…well…House and Cuddy had been stuck in the middle of it all. She was tired of playing peace maker and both men knew it; so in a way this was their thanks for her putting up with their shit.

Cuddy shifted in her seat for the hundredth time that day, her legs making a painful sound as they were ripped from the sweat-stained fabric beneath her.

"Where the hell are we?" She asked with annoyance, her hand sliding over her sweaty forehead.

House's response was of course to turn up the music so loud that the car behind them could no doubt clearly hear every word of the Lynyrd Skynyrd song.

She groaned inaudibly before she reached her hand out, smacking House in the back of the head. They had been driving for two days and he was definitely starting to get on her nerves, and more so than usual because being that they were in a car most of the time she couldn't get away from him, and he seemed to be enjoying that fact a little too much.

House snickered as he rubbed the back of his now sore head, and Cuddy launched over the front seat, slamming her hand into the newly installed CD player until the disc was spit out and they were left with the sound of wind whipping around them.

"Hey!" Wilson cried out as he felt the feisty brunette bump into his arm, nearly swerving off of the road.

"Jesus, Cuddy! Ya trying to kill us?!" House asked, a smirk still playing on his lips.

"No, just you!"

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." He teased, shooting half a glance at her.

She sat back in her seat, crossing her arms tightly over her chest as she bore holes into the back of his head. She had been trying hard to forget that she had woken up to House in her bed; not exactly a great start to the day, at least not for her.

"Could you two try not to act like five year olds for at least fifty miles?" The oncologist of course had to step between his two friends before they ended up killing each other.

"You ever seen a five year old dressed like that?" House hitched his thumb over his shoulder at Cuddy, a smirk tugging at one corner of his lips before he reached up, angling the rearview mirror to get a better look down her tight, white tank top.

"It's ninety degrees! What did you expect me to wear?"

"Well, I hoped you'd go for something hooter-ific; looks like I got my wish."

Wilson looked over at House, grinning a little before lifting his eyes to take a glance in the mirror his best friend had so generously turned so that he could see just what he meant. Her mouth fell open when she caught the small action. She had expected something like that from House, but not from Wilson. This trip was definitely a bad idea.

"All men are pigs!"

"We didn't ask you to dress like that, but we can still show our appreciation." House quipped as he pulled his right leg up on the dashboard to stretch it, his hand moving to massage his thigh before he reached into his jean pocket and came up with the familiar orange bottle.

"I didn't put this on for your entertainment; I put it on so I wouldn't melt. Now, where are we?"

"Missouri." Wilson answered, popping his neck a few times.

"Remind me again why we didn't just fly?"

"Because Wilson thought being stuck in a forty-one year old car would be a great bonding experience for all of us."

"I'm pretty sure I could have bonded just as well on a seven hour flight."

"Are you two just going to bitch the entire way?" Wilson snapped as he reached up to fix the rearview mirror.

"Yes! Because this was your idiotic plan! For someone that wanted us to get closer you sure picked a bad way for that to happen!"

She huffed as she slammed her back into the seat, trying to get out some of her aggression before she ended up killing one or both of the men in front of her. She was hot, tired, sticky, hungry, and House didn't seem to plan to stop staring at her chest any time soon.

House wasn't in a much better mood than Cuddy was. His leg was aching, his jeans no doubt had rings of sweat in the butt, and they still had at least a three days drive ahead of them. It really was a bad idea, but when Wilson had come to him with it he had liked the sound of reliving his teen years with an unnecessary trip.

The only person that seemed to be enjoying themselves was Wilson. This was exactly what he had wanted. He wanted to be able to drive through desolate areas; classic rock blaring on the radio, with the two people that he knew actually gave a damn about him (even if they were in a bad mood most of the time). He understand where each of them was coming from as the seats weren't exactly the most comfortable, and the heat was nearly unbearable since their A/C had gone out, but he was still making the best of it because that was just the type of person he was.

"How far are we from a diner?" Cuddy asked as she slid onto the edge of her seat, folding her arms over the back of the ones in front of her, and rested her chin on top of her hands.

"About twenty miles."

"Good…because I'm starving."

"I thought you didn't eat fast food." House raised his eyebrow as he turned his head to look at her, his hand gripping his aching leg.

"I don't. But I'd rather eat a greasy burger than go hungry."

"Good answer."

She nodded, resting her cheek on her arms as House reached forward and slid the CD back into the slot. Her body jerked a little as the loud music pulsed through her, but soon relaxed and listened to the music. Very few people knew that she liked this kind of music, but it was hard not to. It was nostalgic in a way, and reminded her of her childhood summers when she would spend weeks at a time with her family at the lake.

She suddenly felt a hand brushing her hair from the back of her neck, and opened her eyes to see House grinning down at her. The heat must've been making him a little crazy because there was no way he would do anything like that any other time.

"Thanks…" She said softly, but loud enough for him to hear over the music.

He simply nodded, turning back to watch the long stretch of road out in front of them. For him it signified what would lie ahead. He was on a three thousand mile trip with a woman he had known for more than half of his life, and his best friend whom was just as interested in Cuddy as he was. Who knew what could happen?


	2. Diner Daze

"House! Stop!"

The snarky doctor was continuously sticking his cane between Cuddy's legs to trip her every time she tried to take a step, and she could already feel the bruises forming on her shins. He smirked as he did it again, watching her fall forward and grab onto Wilson to keep herself off of the ground.

Wilson sighed as he turned; helping Cuddy to regain her balance, and shot a warning glare at House whom feigned innocence. The oncologist rolled his eyes and placed a hand on Cuddy's lower back, steering her safely to their table.

She slid into the booth, not exactly thrilled to find out that they were vinyl. She'd had enough of her sweaty legs sticking to plastic seats to last her a lifetime. House slid in next to her, squishing her body against the wall. She groaned from the impact, looking up at him with her jaw clenched.

"Get. Off. Of. Me. Now!" She put a pause between each word to let him know she meant business.

They had been driving for nearly thirteen hours with only a few quick bathroom and gas stops and she wasn't in the mood for his little games; not that that ever seemed to stop him.

"I can't the gravitational pull from your ass is pulling me in."

She lifted her hands, slapping at every part of his body that she could reach. Wilson rolled his eyes as he slid into the seat across from them. This definitely wasn't turning out the way he had planned.

"Hey, hey! I just suffered a major head injury!" He shouted as he tried shield himself from her half-assed blows.

She groaned as she stopped, shoving him away from her with all of the strength in her body; which was surprisingly a lot. For a tiny woman she sure as hell could pack a punch when she needed to.

House scooted over, his lips down in a frown as he feigned a pout as if some bully had just stolen his ice cream cone.

The waitress walked over with a pitcher of ice water and all three of them gratefully took the cool drink, quickly sucking it down before their server could walk away. She refilled their glasses, took their drink orders, and then went back to the kitchen.

"I love places like this." Wilson commented as he glanced around the diner.

It had a fifties décor, and something told them that it wasn't done purposely. It was one of those places that didn't really get enough business to make major changes, but made enough money because it was the only place on the highway with real food for the next two hundred miles.

"You would." House shot back as he took a sip of his water.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

House opened his mouth but before he could even make a sound Cuddy slapped her hand over his mouth.

"Don't instigate a fight, Wilson. I'm definitely not in the mood to hear you two bitch for the rest of the day."

She let out a disgusted squeal when she felt House lick her palm, and quickly pulled her hand away, wiping it on his arm with a look of horror on her face.

"It's just spit."

"I don't know where your mouth has been!"

"Oh! Right! I forgot to tell you about all the hookers I've been going down on when we've been stuck in a car together for the past three days."

She rolled her eyes as she poured some of the water from her cup into her hand and scrubbed at it with her napkin.

Wilson reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and opened it before sliding a wet-nap from it. He handed it to Cuddy and she raised her eyebrow.

"You just carry those around with you in your wallet?"

"Yeah, man…I'm pretty sure the only thing you're supposed to carry in your wallet is money and condoms."

Cuddy rolled her eyes to look over at House, shaking her head. Wilson simply smirked, sipping his water. He enjoyed watching the two bicker just like everyone else at the hospital. It was like a TV show, but much more unpredictable.

The waitress returned with their drinks and of course Cuddy and Wilson were the only two to thank her.

"You don't have to be so rude." Cuddy said to him before taking a long gulp of her iced tea.

"She brought me a drink. When she brings me a million dollars and backstage passes to a Stones concert I'll thank her."

She rolled her eyes as she glanced down at the menu which was imbedded in the lacquered table; which was a little hard to read with all the scratches on it.

"Do they have anything that isn't cooked with animal fat?"

"You peed on the side of the road; you're choosing to be picky now?"

"Just because we're on vacation doesn't mean I'm going to let myself eat crap like this."

She waved her hand at the table before taking another sip of her tea. House rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat as he had decided what he wanted.

A few minutes later their waitress returned and they all ended up ordering the same thing; a cheeseburger and fries.

"It's always a safe choice." Wilson commented as he flicked a straw wrapper.

"Unless these people don't know how to cook their meat."

"It'll probably be yours if they don't. You have shitty luck. And I still call shotgun so if you have to throw up aim it toward the back."

Cuddy scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking out the window at the desolate area around them. The only thing that stuck out from the flat terrain was an abandoned gas station that had no doubt tanked because they thought they could get away with charging an arm and a leg for a gallon of gas.

Still it was sad, because she couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the family that had owned it. She always had the problem whenever she saw places that had been shut down. She never wondered why they had been, just what had happened to the people that once ran it.

Wilson followed Cuddy's gaze to the rusting sign sticking out of the ground. He had a feeling he knew what she was thinking, and it made him feel even more for her. She was such a sweet, caring person, and even though she put on a tough front she was just a big softy under it all.

House of course had no clue what the two were staring at. To him it was just a hunk of junk polluting the already shitty looking desert. His eyebrow cocked as he flicked his wadded up straw wrapped at Cuddy, and she jumped a bit from the unexpected feeling.

She turned her head to look at him, seeming to be annoyed.

"What?!"

"Is there a reason you two are staring out there like it's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

"Haven't you ever heard the beauty is in the eye of the beholder?"

He blinked slowly, pressing the back of his hand to her forehead. She wrinkled her nose as she slapped it away, reeling back a bit.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking to make sure you aren't coming down with something. I don't need to deal with any delusional people while we're out here."

"You know, House. It is possible for someone to think something is beautiful even if you don't." Wilson interjected.

House feigned shock at that, pressing his hand to his chest as he pretended to stammer.

"You mean people are capable of thought?! This is inconceivable!"

Again Cuddy was sure this trip had been a bad idea. It was only going to take a few more snide comments from any one of them before someone finally snapped and the whole thing came undone.

"Why are we really doing this?" Cuddy spoke up softly, leaning on her elbows.

"What do you mean?" Wilson questioned.

"Just what I said; why are we doing this? Something tells me you didn't come up with this road trip idea all by yourself. Who talked you into asking us to do this?"

"Why do you assume someone talked me into it?"

"Oh, I don't know…maybe because you couldn't spend more than fifteen minutes with either one of us since Amber died."

Wilson stayed quiet, slowly lowering his head. House's eyes widened as he slammed his glass down on the table.

"This was your therapist's idea, wasn't it?!"

"Therapist? You're seeing a therapist?" Cuddy turned her head from House to Wilson, looking more than a little shocked.

"It's not a big deal." Wilson muttered.

"It is if that whack job is the reason we're on this insane trip!" House tried not to draw too much attention to them.

"House, calm down…it wasn't such a bad idea."

He raised his eyebrow as he looked at Cuddy.

"Am I losing my mind or were you complaining less than an hour ago."

"I was complaining about the situation, not the trip."

"I'm not seeing the distinction."

"You wouldn't."

The both turned to look back at Wilson whom was still preoccupied with staring at the tabletop.

"Is your therapist the only reason we're here?" Cuddy asked, reaching her hand out to gently rest on Wilson's arm.

He shook his head, clearing his throat before he began to speak.

"No. I already lost Amber, and I didn't want to lose you guys too."

"You weren-" Wilson cut her off before she could finish.

"I was. I kept pushing you away even when you were just trying to help."

Cuddy lifted her eyebrow as she shot House a look. Over the past few months she hadn't seem him do a damn thing to help Wilson, of course she didn't spend much time with them outside of work and that was most likely where he had offered his help; outside of the watchful eye of everyone in the hospital.

They all cleared their throat at about the same time as the waitress had returned with their food. Cuddy forced a friendly smile, looking down at the plate in front of her; she'd suddenly lost her appetite.

Apparently neither of her companions had because they both instantly picked up their burger and bit greedily into it. It always disgusted her to watch men eat; even guys like Wilson were sickening eaters when it came to finger-foods.

She sighed before picking up her burger, and taking a small bite. It wasn't as bad as she had expected it to be, but not as good as it could have been. She finished the bit in her mouth before taking another bite, squeezing a bit of ketchup off of the burger which dripped onto the plate and splashed onto House's khaki pants.

He stopped mid-bit, looking down at the red splotch on his thigh. She hadn't done it on purpose, or even intended it to happen, but it didn't make it annoy him any less. He let out an annoyed sigh, running his finger through the sauce leaking out of the side of his burger, and wiped it over Cuddy's cheek.

She gasped, her mouth hanging open before she turned to look at him, and set her food down.

"What the hell was that for?"

"These are my favorite pants!"

"It was an accident! It's just ketchup!"

"Ketchup is like blood! It's impossible to get out!"

Here it came, the blowout pretty much everyone had predicted would come. Wilson leaned back in his seat, wanting to stay as far away from the fury that was about to unleash as he possibly could be.

"Stop being such a girl!"

"One of us has to be!"

She gasped again, this time in an offensive manner. Before she knew what she was doing she grabbed the bottle of ketchup, and squeezed a healthy serving onto his shirt.

"Let's see how hard that will be to get out!"

He narrowed his eyes at her before grabbing the small pitcher of syrup tucked in the corner of the table, and poured it over her head. Her mouth hung open as the sticky brown substance slid down her hair.

Wilson looked around, having no intention of getting involved in this one.

Cuddy wiped the syrup away from her eyes, grabbing her burger and smashed it painfully into House's face. If he wanted to play dirty she was going to play dirty.

He sputtered as he slapped her hands away, smashing a handful of coffee creamer over her head. The cold feeling of the liquid shocked her into letting out a small squeal which caught the attention of the waitress.

She hurried over, telling them they had to leave, but the two ignored her, continuing on with whatever they could grab. Wilson apologized profusely as he grabbed his sticky friends, and House's cane, hurrying them outside. He handed the waitress a fifty, turning angrily to face Cuddy and House, whom were pointlessly trying to clean themselves up.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?! You're acting like children!"

"Hey! She started it!"

"It was an acci-" She was cut off by Wilson again as he threw his hands up in the air, muttering incoherent words.

"I don't care who started it! Go clean up!"

Wilson thrust his hand in the direction of a hose, and turned to head back to the car leaving them to stand there with condiments dripping from their bodies.

They turned to look at each other, both feeling a little guilty. They were supposed to be mending their friendship, not making things worse.

"Come on…I'll help you get cleaned up."

"No offence but I don't want your ketchup in my syrup." She teased a bit, flicking her hands at House.

He smirked, placing his hand on her lower back and steered her toward the hose. He decided that it would probably be a good idea to be as tolerable as possible over the next few days as there was no sense in having everyone pissed off at him.

"Ya never know…it could make a good combination."


	3. Welcome to Atlantis

By the end the day the trio had reached Tulsa, Oklahoma and they were all more exhausted, hot and sticky than they had been in the last few days. Oklahoma was known for its dry heat, and it was definitely living up to its reputation. Even though they were switching out the drivers and taking naps in between the backseat wasn't exactly the best place to catch some z's, so they all ended up waking up more stiff and grouchy than they had been before their naps.

To make matters worse the cheap motel they had found was completely booked except for the honeymoon suite which had been decked out in tacky underwater décor complete with a king sized waterbed. They were all far too tired to be picky so they took the room, and dragged their smallest bags to their room.

House pushed the door open and Cuddy was the first to let out an audible groan. It was even worse than the description. Apparently someone thought it would be a brilliant idea to put blue tinted light bulbs in every fixture in the room, to give you the illusion that you were in the water, but really all it did was hide all of the stains they were all sure were there. The walls were painted several different colors of blue with what looked to be an attempt at bubbles, and there were turquoise beads lining everything in the room, including the doorways.

She sighed as she stepped in, setting her bag down on a seashell shaped chair, her nose turning up in disgust. She looked toward the bed seeing that the underwater fun didn't stop at the door. The headboard depicted two half naked mermaids facing in opposite directions, coral and other sea life molded into the frame between them. The sheets were a shimmery fabric that was either a dark purple or a very dirty blue, and it was trimmed with fishnet (actual fishnet).

"Tacky must be their middle name." Cuddy commented as she did a 180 to take it all in.

"It's not so bad." Wilson piped in; always the optimistic one.

"Yeah, if you like feeling like you just stepped into 'The Little Mermaid'." House countered, throwing his bag into the corner of the room.

Their eyes all fell onto the large chest of drawers against the far wall. It definitely looked like it belonged here as it had been crafted to look like those multi-colored castles that you see in fish tanks. All that was missing was a treasure chest with bubbles coming out of the top and a scuba diver trying fruitlessly to escape a stationary shark.

Cuddy walked to the bathroom, pushing the sparkling beads out of the way, her face twisting even further into disgust as she took in the sight before her.

"Oh...my...god!"

The two men walked up behind her peering between a few rows of beads above Cuddy's head and into the bathroom that definitely looked like a Disney ride gone awry. The sink was in the shape of a giant piece of coral, the toilet was bejeweled in thousands of tiny sparkling shells (some bare spots where a few had fallen off) and the tub looked like a giant clam shell with a see-though shower curtain around it. On the walls was an elaborate underwater scene complete with the half fish version of Zeus, and a misshapen Hera.

"Hmm, all that's missing is Cuddy in a seashell bikini." House quipped, tapping his cane on the floor as he waggled his eyebrows.

"We would have been better off sleeping in the car." She muttered before she pushed her way between the two men.

House and Wilson shrugged as they gave the bathroom a once over. The more cynical of the two pointed toward the toilet, smirking a little.

"The toilet paper has fish on it."

"How exciting." Wilson responded sleepily, turning to the bedroom and collapsed onto the unstable bed.

"Hey, hey! What do you think you're doing?" Cuddy practically shrieked as she looked at him.

"Attempting to sleep."

"You're not getting the bed."

He lifted his head, his eyebrows rising as he tried to determine whether or not she was joking.

"Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"I don't care. But I'm not sharing a bed with you and you're perverted companion."

House limped in, joining in on the conversation as he rubbed his thigh.

"Well, you'll have to deal with the perverted companion because my leg can't take sleeping on the floor."

She sighed with annoyance as she turned to look at House. She knew he was right, but that didn't make her any more enthusiastic about it.

"Fine. But you have to stay on your side of the bed."

"That's not fair!" Wilson piped in, "The bed is big enough for all three of us. I shouldn't have to suffer a bad back just because you're too much of a princess to share the bed."

She gasped, a little offended but understood where Wilson was coming from. They were all past the point of being tired, and nothing was going the way they wanted it to. She thought about if for a few seconds then groaned with annoyance.

"Fine."

"You have to sleep in the middle, because as much as I like Wilson I don't want to wake up to him spooning me."

Cuddy rolled her eyes as she pulled her bag open and located the most conservative pair of pajamas that she could find. She moved to the bathroom, getting tangled in the beads a bit and flailed around before she finally unraveled herself from the deathtrap of gleaming plastic jewles. She huffed a breath of annoyance as she contained herself, ignoring the laughs coming from the two men before she slammed the door behind herself. Most of the things she had brought with her were either thin camisoles or formfitting t-shirts, so she chose the latter of the two since it wasn't so revealing.

When she finally emerged from the bathroom both Wilson and House were down to their boxers and a baggy shirt that had definitely seen better days. She sighed as she stepped up to the foot of the bed, and crawled into the center, which wasn't as easy as she thought it was going to be as the wate kept pushing her in different directions.

Both men flopped onto their side of the bed at the same time once she had settled herself in her spot which sent an air bubble to the middle and ended up launching Cuddy at least two feet into the air. She let out a scream, and House and Wilson ended up rolling into the middle just before Cuddy came crashing down on top of them.

All three of them let out a painful groan, fighting to get the other two people away from them. Cuddy growled a bit as she rolled her eyes, pushing and kicking at them both which was probably just making things that much worse. They finally got situated after nearly fifteen minutes, all hot and out of breath. She blew out a long sigh and stared up at the twinkling lights from the chandelier (another something to make the occupants feel like they'd traveled to Atlantis).

"I hate you both so much." Cuddy muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"You're not such a ray of sunshine yourself." House shot back.

"Both of you just shut up and go to sleep."

"Who died and made you dad?" House asked, lifting his head to peer over Cuddy at Wilson.

"I became the dad when you two decided to get us kicked out of a diner for having a food fight."

"You're just jealous because you didn't get to see Cuddy all wet afterward."

"Shut up, House!" Cuddy growled again as she smacked his chest.

"Ow! That's abuse, ya know?!"

"Can we just go to sleep?" She asked, a bit of desperation in her voice.

No one answered her, instead they all turned to face the ceiling, each of them knowing full well that the chances of them getting sleep with everyone being so close together, and the bed moving every time someone even breathed too hard would be nearly impossible.

"Does anyone get seasick?" House suddenly asked, his eyebrows lifting.

They were all quiet for a few seconds as they gave each other side glances, already feeling their stomachs start to churn. Wilson was the first to jump off of the bed, and the other two soon followed. A sore back or leg would definitely be better than spending the entire night throwing up.

Wilson and House pulled the sheets from the bed and the extra ones from the closet to setup a makeshift bed on floor; the only time they were actually happy about the fact that the carpet was so thick.

They resumed their positions after everything was settled, finding that it was much easier for them to stay away from each other without the 'tide' pushing them toward Cuddy.

She let out a final sigh before she closed her eyes, and finally started to fall into a much needed asleep. House watched her for a few seconds wondering if this trip would really be what they all needed to get things back on track, or maybe even on a different track. They'd all changed since the accident, even grown up a bit more because they had all realized that life was fragile and that any given time it could be torn away from you.

Cuddy probably understood this better than any of them. She had nearly lost House four times since she'd known him, and it had taken Wilson losing Amber for her to realize that despite him pretending to be God he was very much mortal, and death was a very real possibility. It had scared her to death, and still did. She'd felt bad for Wilson, yes, but she had been too worried about herself and her longtime friend to really give him the sympathy he deserved.

Wilson stared at the back of Cuddy's head, his eyes following the messy curls that curved over her shoulders. She had been the only one to really help him through the whole thing, and he felt that they had grown even closer, or would have had he not been pushing her away. This trip was his chance to see if he really could love again; to see if anyone could love him again.

All three of them were only a few tiring thoughts away from falling asleep when a loud rumble of thunder ripped through the silent room. Cuddy's eyes popped open as she strained to hear anything, and the light pitter patter of rain started.

"Wilson…"

"Yeah?" He muttered, his hand smashing his face.

"Did you put the top up?"

Everyone was still for a few seconds (as if they were all trying to remember how they'd left the car) and then House and Wilson were jumping up and rushing for the door in a jumble of curses. Cuddy groaned as she tugged the slippery comforter over her head, just wanting to curl up into a little ball and end up right back in her own bed.

What more could go wrong?


End file.
